Prior to leaving home, commuters often seek information related to the conditions they will experience en route and areas in which they should avoid. This information may also be useful while en route so they can change their rout on the fly. Conditions important to most commuters include travel congestion and environmental conditions along their planned route. For the information to be useful, it must be timely provided such that an individual can alter their route in response to the information.
Regarding traffic congestion, there are many available systems that provide traffic conditions for particular roads, including expressway cameras and strips placed across the road to count the number of cars that pass. In some metropolitan areas, radio stations and television stations broadcast traffic conditions based on information received from expressway cameras, police reports and eyewitnesses accounts either from persons caught in traffic or helicopters overhead. In some cases, the speed of probe vehicles is monitored. This information is often focused on major expressways and does not provide a comprehensive picture of the overall traffic situation. Additional information would be helpful to commuters because they typically spend at least a portion of their commute on roads not monitored by these systems. Accordingly a need exists for systems that provide a more comprehensive traffic congestion picture to replace or supplement current systems.
In addition to avoiding traffic congestion, a commuter may also wish to avoid areas experiencing certain environmental conditions such as high air pollution concentrations. This would be especially true for individuals with asthma or other medical conditions that make them sensitive to air pollutants. Although traffic conditions are currently provided via radio or television broadcasts on a limited basis, other travel conditions such as air quality are not typically provided. Accordingly, a need exists for improved systems and methods to collect and disseminate air quality data.
Present air quality monitors collect useful data, however the systems are typically limited to a few collection sites. For effective analysis, data should be gathered over a large geographic area at approximately the same time so a comprehensive picture of the area can be obtained. A need exists for systems and methods of collecting and analyzing travel condition data to evaluate pollution patterns and factors affecting changes in air quality.
Data relating to travel conditions can also be important for long term planning and evaluating remedial measures. For example, traffic congestion and air quality data may be useful to city planners when evaluating where to build roads, land use issues and zoning requests. Traffic engineers may also use this data to identify traffic congestion issues and the factors affecting traffic congestion. Present systems, such as the traffic cameras and eyewitness accounts do not provide data useful in making these evaluations. Car counters and probe vehicles provide some useful information, but the breadth of information is limited. What is needed is a comprehensive system that collects high quality data over a large collection period such that factors effecting travel conditions may be evaluated.